With three outstanding teams potentially grabbing the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, there’s no other more competitive championship than the Big 12. The Oklahoma Sooners, Kansas Jayhawks and West Virginia Mountaineers are all in the hunt for the number 1 seed and with Texas, Baylor and Iowa State close on the heels for the conference, it can’t get any better than this for college basketball betting fans…
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Big 12 Basketball Championship 2016 Predictions
West Virginia Mountaineers
Although not the favorites, the Mountaineers are giving a solid effort and could even hamper the Jayhawks’ plans of snatching the top seed. In fact, they’ve already shown Kansas what they can do in beating them earlier this year.
The triple combination of Jevon Carter, Devin Williams and specially Jaysean Paige stuck Kansas with a combined 53 points. And, there’s no showing of Paige stopping any time soon, as of late he’s been scoring an average of 20 PPG, leading the Mountaineers to four victories in a row to start this tournament.
West Virginia has been masterful at forcing opponents to turn the ball over, averaging just around 10 steals per game. It’s something that will undoubtedly be a factor against the Jayhawks.
Oklahoma Sooners
The Sooners may have had the luck of the draw in landing in the bracket to play against West Virginia, Texas Tech, TCU, and Iowa State, opponents to which they’re 4-1 over their last five games.
The Sooners also have shooting guard Chavano Rainer "Buddy" Hiel, the 2015 Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year powering the offense. And, this year he’s been nothing short of impressive, scoring around 25 points per game on average.
With Jordan Woodward and Isaiah Cousins rounding off things, the Sooners are a balanced team that could beat any team and win this tournament.
Kansas Jayhawks
Last, but certainly not least, they Jayhawks are the favorites to win this tournament. But, though they won the regular season for the 12th year straight, it still doesn’t mean they can win the tournament crown.
The Jayhawks are ranked in the top spot in the nation as it stands. Finishing the season with an impressive 11-game win streak that’s hard to ignore and even more dangerous to not keep in mind for both Oklahoma and West Virginia.
The Jayhawks have another advantage on their side (apart from their stats which we’ll look at in a second), the tournaments is being played in their backyard at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Playing in front of their home crowd will fire them up even more. Considering this team ranks second in scoring offense in the Big 12, and fourth in scoring defense, as well leading in the conference with the best scoring margin, you can certainly expect this team to be lighting up the scoreboard against every opponent.
Here’s the full schedule of games:
Wednesday, March 9 (First Round)
- Game 1: No. 8 Kansas State vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State (7 p.m., ESPNU)
- Game 2: No. 7 Texas Tech vs. No. 10 TCU (9 p.m., ESPNU)
Thursday, March 10 (Quarterfinals)
- Game 3: No. 4 Texas vs. No. 5 Baylor (12:30 p.m., ESPN2)
- Game 4: No. 1 Kansas vs. Kansas State/Oklahoma State winner (2:30 p.m., ESPN2)
- Game 5: No. 2 West Virginia vs. Texas Tech/TCU winner (7 p.m., ESPNU)
- Game 6: No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 Iowa State (9 p.m., ESPNU)
Friday, March 11 (Semifinals)
- Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner (7 p.m., ESPN2)
- Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner (9 p.m., ESPN2)
Sunday, March 12 (Championship)
- Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner (6 p.m., ESPN)
Prediction to Win: We have to go with Kansas.